The inception of this invention arose from my personal experience in the Pearl and Construction industry in Japan. I spent too much of my break time turning rubber gloves inside out by hand to clean and dry them. I discontinued this practice because it was too frustrating and time consuming, and as a result, I began to have serious health problems with my hands including redness, itching, chaffing, etc. not to mention the stress accompanying such discomfort I searched for a device to invert rubber gloves at numerous outlets that cater to industries utilizing industrial, heavy duty, lined, rubber gloves; but to no avail.
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a device that eliminates maladies of the hands typically associated with the use of substantially thick gloves. This invention is used for inverting glove appendages. Well suited but not limited to industrial, heavy duty, lined, rubber gloves it can also be applied to any thick material glove. Moreover, this invention facilitates the expeditious inversion and subsequent efficient cleaning and/or rapid drying of the lining of the gloves, thereby providing a means to maintain healthy morbidity free hands.
Perspiration soaked, lined rubber gloves are extremely difficult and frustrating and time consuming to invert by hand for efficient cleaning and/or rapid drying of the lining. Also the bacteria and fungus that thrive and multiply in moist, unsanitary rubber gloves precipitates a plethora of health complications ranging from mere discomfort due to itching, chaffing, sore hands, to more severe ailments including fungal infections associated with improper sanitation and desiccation; not to mention the stress, the reduction in concentration, diminished efficiency and lower productivity associated thereof.
2. Prior Art
I would like to urge the reader to consider this as a brand new field per se. The present invention deals with a specific field of inversion that is notably absent in development. Most prior art in the field of inversion deals with tools to assist in the manufacture of products. Others deal with oblong finished products such as belts, ties, stockings etc. The present invention deals with gloves as finished products, the purpose of which is to provide a means to maintain healthy morbidity free hands for the users of a variety of thick material gloves.
Fabric inversion of all kinds have employed the use of numerous and varied tools. U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,111 by Hardwick appears similar in structure to the present invention, however there are significant differences, especially the technique employed to invert a fabric and the field of application is dissimilar.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,572 to Smith is quite similar to the present invention on the surface. Even though it performs the same function as the present invention, it consists of 3 components and requires twice as many steps and requires at least twice as much time to perform the function of inverting glove appendages. Moreover it incurs an added expense to manufacture an additional component. Therefore the need exists for an improvement in the field that costs less to manufacture and is more efficient and requires less time to perform the function of inverting glove appendages. Also the present invention is lighter and more compact.
Furthermore there are significant improvements the present invention provides. The new technology of the present invention is practically unnoticeable. Precisely, the configured tip of the guide provides a means to insure continuous engagement with the tip of the glove appendages, thereby increasing efficiency and reducing the time necessary to perform the function of inverting glove appendages.
Moreover, the technique is dissimilar. U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,572 employs a method of insertion: insert the tube into the glove appendage socket; subsequently insert the pushrod into the tube to invert the appendage. Whereas the present invention utilizes a technology based upon a guiding principal, wherein the configuration of the tip of the guide provides a means to insure continuous engagement of the tip of the glove appendage thereby resulting in complete inversion by virtue of a definitive guidance procedure.